It was a night for the young and fearless as 17-year-old Cameron Myers claimed his first national senior title, extending his irrepressible run through the domestic athletics season on a trajectory that looks ever more likely to take him to the Paris Olympics in July.
Canberra schoolboy Myers bettered his Australian under-20 record by almost six seconds, clocking eight minutes and 46.38 seconds to win the Australian 3,000 metres championship at the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday night.
The teenager showed composure beyond his years over one of his less-favoured distances, keeping his feet as the defending champion Jude Thomas fell immediately behind him with one lap to go, and using that scare as the trigger to attack the high-quality field.
He was similarly calm as he answered questions about the win afterwards.
“It’s pretty good but I’d much rather get [a national title] at the trials in a couple of weeks,” Myers said.
“This is just sort of a stepping stone and it’s positive momentum”.
Myers has been getting the jump on higher-ranked runners all season, most notably defeating the 2022 world champion Jake Wightman at a low-key NSW Milers’ Series 1,500m race last month, where he clocked 3:33.30 to breach the Olympic qualifying standard (3:33.50) for the second time.
Asked if he felt intimidated racing men of Wightman’s calibre, Myers said matter-of-factly: “I don’t think you can afford to be at this level.”
The athlete Myers is most being compared with is reigning Olympic 1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was also a prodigious teenager.
Myers’s times at 16 and 17 compare favourably with those of the Norwegian.
However, neither he nor his vastly experienced coach Dick Telford are getting carried way.
“He’s (Ingebrigtsen) the best in the sport in my opinion, I think he races really aggressively [but] I don’t pay too much attention to what he was doing at my age because he’s a bit different in the type of runner he is,” Myers said.
“It’s definitely cool to make those comparisons, but I don’t think it really means much to me.”
Myers preparing for ‘stacked’ nationals
Myers is much more interested in securing his place in the Olympic team at next month’s national titles in Adelaide (April 11-14).
He is undaunted by the unprecedented depth in the men’s 1,500m, featuring the likes of Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ollie Hoare and Olympic finalist Stewart McSweyn.
“It’s stacked,” Myers said.
“There’s five or six guys that could be contender for the gold medal, so I just look at it like I’ve got to be at my best. If I’m at my best I’m going to be pretty hard to beat.”
Myers has been the revelation of the Australian summer on track, but he is also part of a wave of exceptional teenagers who have pushed their way into contention for the Australian athletics team in Paris.
Claudia Hollingsworth, 18, from Melbourne and Peyton Craig, 19, from Brisbane have also begun cutting through the senior ranks this year.
Hollingsworth, coached by former star Craig Mottram in Melbourne, has made two startling appearances over 800m this year, first to win the biggest race of the season so far, at the Maurie Plant meet in Melbourne last month, and then to set an Olympic qualifier of 1:58.81 in Canberra.
Like Myers, she faces world-class competition in Catriona Bissett, Abbey Caldwell and Bendere Oboya to secure her place in the national team.
All four women currently rank inside the top 25 in the world, but Hollingsworth has already shown a cool head in the heat of competition.
Craig, 19, finished eighth in the junior race at the world triathlon championships two years ago, before going on to compete at the World Athletics U20 Championships in a unique double, but decided he preferred racing on the track.
This year, he has been the form Australian 800m runner, winning at the Adelaide International — running a personal best of 1:45.41 — and Canberra Track Classic, before he was just pipped at the Sydney Track Classic.
He is just short of the Olympic qualifying standard (1:44.70) but is also hopeful that he can win selection for Paris.
Craig said he was inspired by watching what Myers and Hollingsworth had done this season.
“It’s a very supportive and competitive environment,” he said.
“I think there are a lot of us who are achieving at a younger age and that pushes me to be better too. I think Australia has a lot to look forward to.”
And beyond the middle distance, that cohort also includes the new national 100m record-holder Torrie Lewis, 19, who anchored the Australian 4x100m relay team to a new national record at the Sydney Track Classic.
Beyond the Paris Olympics, this teen quartet will spearhead what may be the best Australian team ever to attend the World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Peru in August.
And their timing appears to be just about perfect for a home Olympics in Brisbane in 2032, when all should be in their prime.